[from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~eclectic/o/thelema/mitap//de
fs.html; cf. the entirety of
_Book Four_
[from
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~eclectic/o/thelema/mitap//defs.html;
cf. the entirety of _Book Four_ at:
ftp://ftp.hollyfeld.org/pub/Esoteric/Text/Magick/Crowley/004bfour.txt]
{Illustration on page VIII described: This is the set of photos
originally published facing page 12 in EQUINOX I, 2 and titled
there: "The Signs of the Grades."}
INTRODUCTION
Esseai athanatos theos, ambrotos, oyk eti thnétos
Pythagoras.
"Magic is the Highest, most Absolute, and most Divine Knowledge
of Natural Philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful
operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult
virtue of things; so that true Agents being applied to proper
Patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby be produced.
Whence magicians are profound and diligent searchers into Nature;
they, because of their skill, know how to anticipate an effect,
the which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle."
The Goetia of the Lemegeton of King Solomon.
"Wherever sympathetic magic occurs in its pure unadulterated
form, it is assumed that in nature one event follows another
necessarily and invariably without the intervention of any
spiritual or personal agency.
Thus its fundamental conception is identical with that of modern
science; underlying the whole system is a faith, implicit but
real and firm, in the order and uniformity of nature. The
magician does not doubt that the same causes will always produce
the same effects, that the performance of the proper ceremony
accompanied by the appropriate spell, will inevitably be attended
by the desired results, unless, indeed, his incantations should
chance to be thwarted and foiled by the more potent charms of
another sorcerer. He supplicates no higher power: he sues the
favour of no fickle and wayward being: he abases himself before
no awful deity. Yet his power, great as he believes it to be, is
by no means arbitrary and unlimited. He can wield it only so long
as he strictly conforms to the rules of his art, or to what may
be called the laws of nature as conceived by him. To neglect
these rules, to break these laws in the smallest particular is to
incur failure, and may even expose the unskilful practitioner
himself to the utmost peril. If he claims a sovereignty over
nature, it is a constitutional sovereignty rigorously limited in
its scope and exercised in exact conformity with ancient usage.
Thus the analogy between the magical and the scientific
conceptions of the world is close. In both of them the succession
of events is perfectly regular and certain, being determined by
immutable laws, the operation of which can be foreseen and
calculated precisely; the elements of caprice, of chance, and of
accident are banished from the course of nature. Both of them
open up a seemingly boundless vista of possibilities to him who
knows the causes of things and can touch the secret springs that
set in motion the vast and intricate mechanism of the world.
Hence the strong attraction which magic and science alike have
exercised on the human mind; hence the powerful stimulus that
both have given to the pursuit of knowledge. They lure the weary
enquirer, the footsore seeker, on through the wilderness of di
sappointment in the present by their endless promises of the
future: they take him up to he top of an exceeding high mountain
and shew him, beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his
feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but
radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams."
Dr. J. G. FRAZER, "The Golden Bough".
"So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been
one of the roads by which men have passed to supreme power, it
has contributed to emancipate mankind from the thraldom of
tradition and to elevate them into a larger, freer life, with a
broader outlook on the world. This is no small service rendered
to humanity. And when we remember further that in another
direction magic has paved the way for science, we are forced to
admit that if the black art has done much evil, it has also been
the source of much good; that if it is the child of error, it has
yet been the mother of freedom and truth."
Ibid.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
St. Paul.
"Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work
of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and
teach."
"He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals."
"The word of the Law is [in Greek] Thelema."
LIBER AL vel xxxi: The Book of the Law.
____________________________________________________________
This book is for
ALL:
for every man, woman, and child.
My former work has been misunderstood, and its scope limited, by
my use of technical terms. It has attracted only too many
dilettanti and eccentrics, weaklings seeking in "Magic" an escape
from reality. I myself was first consciously drawn to the subject
in this way. And it has repelled only too many scientific and
practical minds, such as I most designed to influence.
But
MAGICK
is for
ALL.
I have written this book to help the Banker, the Pugilist, the
Biologist, the Poet, the Navvy, the Grocer, the Factory Girl, the
Mathematician, the Stenographer, the Golfer, the Wife, the Consul
--- and all the rest --- to fulfil themselves perfectly, each in
his or her own proper function.
Let me explain in a few words how it came about that I blazoned
the word
MAGICK
upon the Banner that I have borne before me all my life.
Before I touched my teens, I was already aware that I was THE
BEAST whose number is 666. I did not understand in the least {XI}
what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of
identity.
In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to
the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a
Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents, and
deceptions of material existence.
I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as
H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. "Theosophy", "Spiritualism",
"Occultism", "Mysticism", all involved undesirable connotations.
I chose therefore the name.
"MAGICK"
as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most
discredited, of all the available terms.
I swore to rehabilitate
MAGICK,
to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to
respect, love, and trust that which they scorned, hated and
feared. I have kept my Word.
But the time is now come for me to carry my banner into the thick
of the press of human life.
I must make
MAGICK
the essential factor in the life of
ALL.
In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and
justify my position by formulating a definition of
MAGICK
and setting forth its main principles in such a way that
ALL
may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every
relation with every other human being and every circumstance,
depend upon
MAGICK
and the right comprehension and right application thereof.
I) DEFINITION.
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in
conformity with Will.
(Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts
within my knowledge. I therefore take "magickal weapons", pen,
ink, and paper; I write "incantations"---these sentences---in the
"magickal language" ie, that which is understood by the people I
wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as printers,
publishers, booksellers and so forth and constrain them to convey
my message to those people. The composition and distribution of
this book is thus an act of Magick by which I cause Changes to
take place in conformity with my Will.)
In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to
Science by the vulgar.
II) POSTULATE.
ANY required change may be effected by the application of the
proper kind and degree of Force in the proper manner, through the
proper medium to the proper object.
(Illustration: I wish to prepare an ounce of Chloride of Gold. I
must take the right kind of acid, nitro-hydrochloric and no
other, in a vessel which will not break, leak or corrode, in such
a manner as will not produce undesirable results, with the
necessary quantity of Gold: and so forth. Every change has its
own conditions.
In the present state of our knowledge and power some changes are
not possible in practice; we cannot cause eclipses, for instance,
or transform lead into tin, or create men from mushrooms. But it
is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of
which that object is capable by nature; and the conditions are
covered by the above postulate.)
III) THEOREMS.
1) Every intentional act is a Magickal act.
(Illustration: See "Definition" above.)
By "intentional" I mean "willed". But even unintentional acts
so seeming are not truly so. Thus, breathing is an act of the
Will to Live.
2) Every successful act has conformed to the postulate.
3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the
postulate have not been fulfilled.
(Illustrations: There may be failure to understand the case, as
when a doctor makes a wrong diagnosis, and his treatment injures
the patient. There may be a failure to apply the right kind of
force, as when a rustic tries to blow out an electric light.
There may be failure to apply the right degree of force, as when
a wrestler has his hold broken, There may be failure to apply the
force in the right manner, as when one presents a cheque at the
wrong window of the Bank. There may be failure to employ the
correct medium, as when Leonardo da Vinci saw his masterpiece
fade away. The force may be applied to an unsuitable object, as
when one tries to crack a stone, thinking it a nut.)
4) The first requisite for causing any change is thorough
qualitative and quantitative understanding of the conditions.
(Illustration: The most common cause of failure in life is
ignorance of one's own True Will, or of the means to fulfill that
Will. A man may fancy himself a painter, and waste his life
trying to become one; or he may really be a painter, and yet fail
to understand and to measure the difficulties peculiar to that
career.)
5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical
ability to set in right motion the necessary forces.
(Illustration: A banker may have a perfect grasp of a given
situation, yet lack the quality of decision, or the assets,
necessary to take advantage of it.)
6) "Every man and every woman is a star". That is to say, every
human being is intrinsically an independent individual with his
own proper character and proper motion.
7) Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on
the self, and partly on the environment which is natural and
necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course,
either through not understanding himself, or through external
opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe,
and suffers accordingly.
(Illustration: A man may think it is his duty to act in a certain
way, through having made a fancy picture of himself, instead of
investigating his actual nature. For example, a woman may make
herself miserable for life by thinking that she prefers love to
social consideration, or vice versa. One woman may stay with an
unsympathetic husband when she would really be happy in an attic
with a lover, while another may fool herself into a romantic
elopement when her only pleasures are those of presiding over
fashionable functions. Again, a boy's instinct may tell him to go
to sea, while his parents insist on his becoming a doctor. In
such a case he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in
medicine.)
8) A Man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is
wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment
efficiently.
(Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no
condition to undertake the invasion of other countries. A man
with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to
that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails to
resist the pressure of his environment. In practical life, a man
who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it
very clumsily. At first!)
9) A Man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the
Universe to assist him.
(Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is
that the individual should be true to his own nature, and at the
same time adapt himself to his environment.)
10) Nature is a continuous phenomenon, though we may not know in
all cases how things are connected.
(Illustration: Human comsciousness depends on the properties of
protoplasm, the existence of which depends on innumerable
physical conditions peculiar to this planet; and this planet is
determined by the mechanical balance of the whole universe of
matter. We may then say that our consciousness is causally
connected with the remotest galaxies; yet we do not even know how
it arises from--or with--the molecular changes in the brain.)
11) Science enables us to take advantage of the continuity of
Nature by the empirical application of certain principles whose
interplay involves different orders of idea connected with each
other in a way beyond our present comprehension.
(Illustration: We are able to light cities by rule-of-thumb
methods. We do not know what consciousness is, or how it is
connected with muscular action; what electricity is or how it is
connected with the machines that generate it; and our methods
depend on calculations involving mathematical ideas which have no
correspondance in the Universe as we know it.)
For instance "irrational", "unreal" and "infinite"
expressions.
12) Man is ignorant of the nature of his own being and powers.
Even his idea of his limitations is based on experience of the
past, and every step in his progress extends his empire. There is
therefore no reason to assign theoretical limits
note: i.e., except---possibly---in the case of logically
absurd questions such as the Schoolmen discussed in connection
with "God".
to what he may be, or what he may do.
(Illustration: A generation ago it was supposed theoretically
impossible that man should ever know the composition of the fixed
stars. It is known that our senses are adapted to receive only a
fraction of the possible rates of vibration.Modern instruments
have enabled us to detect some of these supra-sensibles by
indirect methods, and even to use their peculiar qualities in the
service of man, as in the case of the rays of Hertz and Roentgen.
As Tyndall said, man might at any moment learn to percieve and
utilize vibrations of all concievable and inconcievable kinds.
The question of Magick is a question of discovering and employing
hitherto unknown forces in nature. We know that they exist, and
we cannot doubt the possibility of mental or physical instruments
capable of bringing us into relation with them.)
13) Every man is more or less aware that his individuality
comprises several orders of existence, even when he maintains
that his subtler principles are merely symptomatic of the changes
in his gross vehicle. A similar order may be assumed to extend
throughout nature.
(Illustration: One does not confuse the pain of a toothache with
the decay that causes it. Inanimate objects are sensitive to
certain physical forces, such as electrical and thermal
conductivity; but neither in us nor in them--so far as we
know--is there any direct conscious perception of these forces.
Imperceptible influences are therefore associated with all
material phenomena; and there is no reason why we should not work
upon matter through these subtle energies as we do through their
material bases. In fact, we use magnetic force to move iron and
solar radiation to reproduce images.)
14) Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he
perceives, for everything which he perceives is in a certain
sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate the whole of the
Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will.
(Illustration: Man has used the idea of God to dictate his
personal conduct, to obtain power over his fellows, to excuse his
crimes, and for innumerable other purposes, including that of
realizing himself as God. He has used the irrational and unreal
conceptions of mathematics to help him in the construction of
mechanical devices. He has used his moral force to influence the
actions even of wild animals. He has employed poetic genius for
political purposes.)
15) Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed
into any other kind of force by using suitable means. There is
thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of force that
we may need.
(Illustration: Heat may be transformed into light and power by
using it to drive dynamos. The vibrations of the air may be used
to kill men by so ordering them in speech so as to inflame
war-like passions. The hallucinations connected with the
mysterious energies of sex result in the perpetuation of the
species.)
16) The application of any given force affects all the orders of
being which exist in the object in the object to which it is
applied, whichever of of those orders is directly affected.
(Illustration: If I strike a man with a dagger, his
consciousness, not his body only, is affected by my act, although
the dagger, as such, has no direct relation therewith. Similarly,
the power of my thought may so work on the mind of another person
as to produce far-reaching physical changes in him, or in others
through him.)
17) A man may learn to use any force so as to serve any purpose,
by taking advantage of the above theorems.
(Illustration: A man may use a razor to make himself vigilant
over his speech, by using it to cut himself whenever he
ungaurdedly utters a chosen word. He may serve the same purpose
by resolving that every incident of his life shall remind him of
a particular thing, making every impression the starting point of
a connected series of thoughts ending in that thing. He might
also devote his whole energies to some one particular object, by
resolving to do nothing at variance therewith, and to make every
act turn to the advantage of that object.)
18) He may attract to himself any force of the Universe by making
himself a fit receptacle for it, and arranging conditions so that
its nature compels it to flow toward him.
(Illustration: If I want pure water to drink, I dig a well in a
place where there is underground water; I prevent it from leaking
away; and I arrange to take advantage of water's accordance with
the laws of Hydrostatics to fill it.)
19) Man's sense of himself as seperate from, and opposed to, the
Universe is a bar to his conducting its currents. It insulates
him.
(Illustration: A popular leader is most successful when he
forgets himself and remembers only "The Cause". Self-seeking
engenders jealousies and schism. When the organs of the body
assert their presence other by silent satisfaction, it is a sign
they are diseased. The single exception is the organ of
reproduction. Yet even in this case its self-assertion bears
witness to its dissatisfaction with itself, since it cannot
fulfil its function until completed by its counterpart in another
organism.)
20) Man can only attract and employ the forces for which he is
really fitted.
(Illustration: You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A
true man of science learns from every phenomeneon. But Nature is
dumb to the hypocrite; for in her there is nothing false.)
It is no objection that the hypocrite is himself part of
Nature. He is an "endothermic" product, divided against
himself, with a tendency to break up. He will see his own
qualities everywhere, and thus obtain a radical misconception
of phenomena. Most religions of the past have failed by
expecting nature to conform with their ideals of proper
conduct.
21) There is no limit to the extent of the relations of any man
with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself
one with any idea the means of measurement cease to exist. But
his power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power
and capacity, and by the circumstances of his human environment.
(Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes,
to him, nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical
state is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or
annoyed. He can only extend to others the effect which his love
has had upon himself by means of his mental and physical
qualities. Thus Catullus, Dante and Swinburne made their love a
mighty mover of mankind by virtue of their power to put their
thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent language. Again,
Cleopatra and other people in authority moulded the fortunes of
many other people by allowing love to influence their political
actions. The Magician, however well he succeed in making contact
with the secret sources of energy in nature, can only use them to
the extent permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities.
Mohammed's intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of
his statesmanship, soldiership, and the sublimity of his command
of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the rays which we now use for
wireless telegraphy was sterile until it reflected through the
minds and wills of the people who could take his truth and
transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical and
economic instruments.)
22) Every individual is essentially sufficient to himself. But he
is unsatisfactory to himself until he has established himself in
his right relation with the universe.
(Illustration: A microscope, however perfect, is useless in the
hands of savages. A poet, however sublime, must impose himself
upon his generation if he is to enjoy (and even to understand)
himself, as theoretically should be the case.)
23) Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's
conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in
action.
(Illustration: A golf club is intended to move a special ball in
a special way in special circumstances. A Niblick should rarely
be used on the tee or a brassie under the bank of a bunker. But
also, the use of any club demands skill and experience.)
24) Every man has an indefeasible right to be what he is.
(Illustration: To insist that any one else should comply with
one's own standards is to outrage, not only him, but oneself,
since both parties are equally born of necessity.)
25) Every man must do Magick each time he acts or even thinks,
since a thought is an internal act whose influence ultimately
affects action, though it may not do so at the time.
(Illustration: The least gesture causes a change in a man's own
body and in the air around him; it disturbs the balance of the
entire Universe, and its effects continue eternally throughout
all space. Every thought, however swiftly suppressed, has its
effect on the mind. It stands as one of the causes of every
subsequent thought, and tends to influence every subsequent
action. A golfer may lose a few yards on his drive, a few more
with his second and third, he may lie on the green six bare
inches too far from the hole, but the net result of these
trifling mishaps is the difference between halving and losing the
hole.)
26) Every man has a right, the right of self preservation, to
fulfill himself to the utmost.
Men of "criminal nature" are simply at issue with their true
Wills. The murderer has the Will to Live; and his will to
murder is a false will at variance with his true Will, since
he risks death at the hands of Society by obeying his criminal
impulse.
(Illustration: A function imperfectly performed injures, not only
itself, but everything associated with it. If the heart is afraid
to beat for fear of disturbing the liver, the liver is starved
for blood and avenges itself on the heart by upsetting digestion,
which disorders respiration, on which cardiac welfare depends.)
27) Every man should make Magick the keystone of his life. He
should learn its laws and live by them.
(Illustration: The Banker should discover the real meaning of his
existence, the real motive which led him to choose that
profession. He should under-stand banking as a necessary factor
in the economic existence of mankind instead of merely a business
whose objects are independant of the general welfare. He should
learn to distinguish false values from real, and to act not on
accidental fluctuations but on considerations of essential
importance. Such a banker will prove himself superior to others;
because he will not be an individual limited by transitory
things, but a force of Nature, as impersonal, impartial and
eternal as gravitation, as patient and irresistable as the tides.
His system will not be subject to panic, any more than the law of
Inverse Squares is disturbed by elections. He will not be anxious
about his affairs because they will not be his; and for that
reason he will be able to direct them with the calm, clear-headed
confidence of an onlooker, with intelligence unclouded by
self-interest, and power unimpaired by passion.)
28) Every man has a right to fulfill his own will without being
afraid that it may interfere with that of others; for if he is in
his proper place, it is the fault of others if they interfere
with him.
(Illustration: If a man like Napoleon were actually appointed by
destiny to control Europe, he should not be blamed for exercising
his rights. To oppose him would be an error. Any one so doing
would have made a mistake as to his own destiny, except insofar
as it mught be necessary for him to learn the lessons of defeat.
The sun moves in space without interference. the order of nature
provides an orbit for each star. A clash proves that one or the
other has strayed from its course. But as to each man that keeps
his true course, the more firmly he acts, the less likely others
are to get in his way. His example will helpthem to find their
own paths and pursue them. Every man that becomes a Magician
helps others to do likewise. The more firmly and surely men move,
and the more such action is accepted as the standard of morality,
the less will conflict and confusion hamper humanity.)
____________________________________________________________
I hope that the above principles will demonstrate to
ALL
that their welfare, their very existence, is bound up in
MAGICK.
I trust that they will understand, not only the reasonableness,
but the necessity of the fundamental truth which I was the means
of giving to mankind:
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." I trust that
they will assert themselves as individually absolute, that they
will grasp the fact that it is their right to assert themselves,
and to accomplish the task for which their nature fits them. Yea,
more, that this is their duty, and that not only to themselves
but to others, a duty founded upon universal necessity, and not
to be shirked on account of any casual circumstances of the
moment which may seem to put such conduct in the light of
inconvenience or even of cruelty.
I hope that the principles outlined above will help them to
understand this book, and prevent them from being deterred from
its study by the more or less technical language in which it is
written.
The essence of
MAGICK
is simple enough in all conscience. It is not otherwise with the
art of government. The Aim is simply prosperity; but the theory
is tangled, and the practice beset with briars.
In the same way
MAGICK
is merely to be and to do. I should add: "to suffer". For Magick
is the verb; and it is part of the Training to use the passive
voice. This is, however, a matter of Initiation rather than of
Magick in its ordinary sense. It is not my fault if being is
baffling, and doing desperate!
Yet, once the above principles are firmly fixed in the mind, it
is easy enough to sum up the situation very shortly. One must
find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, "who" one is,
"what" one is, "why" one is. This done, one may put the will
which is implicit in the "Why" into words, or rather into One
Word. Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the
next thing is to understand the conditions necessary to following
it out. After that, one must eliminate from oneself every element
alien or hostile to success, and develop those parts of oneself
which are specially needed to control the aforesaid conditions.
Let us make an analogy. A nation must become aware of its own
character before it can be said to exist. From that knowledge it
must divine its destiny. It must then consider the political
conditions of the world; how other countries may help it or
hinder it. It must then destroy it itself any elements discordant
with its destiny. Lastly, it must develop in itself those
qualities which will enable it to combat successfully the
external conditions which threaten to oppose is purpose. We have
had a recent example in the case of the young German Empire,
which, knowing itself and its will, disciplined and trained
itself so that it conquered the neighbours which had oppressed it
for so many centuries. But after 1866 and 1870, 1914! It mistook
itself for superhuman, it willed a thing impossible, it failed to
eliminate its own internal jealousies, it failed to understand
the conditions of victory,
At least, it allowed England to discover its intentions, and
so to combine the world against it. {WEH NOTE: This footnote
in Crowley's text belongs to this page, but it is not marked
in the text. I have assigned it this tentative point, as
following the general context.
it did not train itself to hold the sea, and thus, having
violated every principle of
MAGICK,
it was pulled down and broken into pieces by provincialism and
democracy, so that neither individual excellence nor civic virtue
has yet availed to raise it again to that majestic unity which
made so bold a bid for the mastery of the race of man.
The sincere student will discover, behind the symbolic
technicalities of his book, a practical method of making himself
a Magician. The processes described will enable him to
discriminate between what he actually is, and what he has fondly
imagined himself to be.
Professor Sigmund Freud and his school have, in recent years,
discovered a part of this body of Truth, which has been taught
for many centuries in the Sanctuaries of Initiation. But
failure to grasp the fullness of Truth, especially that
implied in my Sixth Theorem (above) and its corollaries, has
led him and his followers into the error of admitting that the
avowedly suicidal "Censor" is the proper arbiter of conduct.
Official psycho-analysis is therefore committed to upholding a
fraud, although the foundation of the science was the
observation of the disastrous effects on the individual of
being false to his Unconscious Self, whose "writing on the
wall" in dream language is the record of the sum of the
essential tendencies of the true nature of the individual. The
result has been that psycho-analysts have misinterpreted life,
and announced the absurdity that every human being is
essentially an anti-social, criminal, and insane animal. It is
evident that the errors of the Unconscious of which the
psycho-analysts complain are neither more nor less than
the"original sin" of the theologians whom they despise so
heartily.
He must behold his soul in all its awful nakedness, he must not
fear to look on that appalling actuality. He must discard the
gaudy garments with which his shame has screened him; he must
accept the fact that nothing can make him anything but what he
is. He may lie to himself, drug himself, hide himself; but he is
always there. Magick will teach him that his mind is playing him
traitor. It is as if a man were told that tailors' fashion-plates
were the canon of human beauty, so that he tried to make himself
formless and featureless like them, and shuddered with horror at
the idea of Holbein makin g a portrait of him. Magick will show
him the beauty and majesty of the self which he has tried to
suppress and disguise.
Having discovered his identity, he will soon perceive his
purpose. Another process will show him how to make that purpose
pure and powerful. He may then learn how to estimate his
environment, learn how to make allies, how to make himself
prevail against all powers whose error has caused them to wander
across his path.
In the course of this Training, he will learn to explore the
Hidden Mysteries of Nature, and to develop new senses and
faculties in himself, whereby he may communicate with, and
control, Beings and Forces pertaining to orders of existence
which have been hitherto inaccessible to profane research, and
available only to that unscientific and empirical
MAGICK
(of tradition) which I came to destroy in order that I might
fulfil.
I send this book into the world that every man and woman may take
hold of life in the proper manner. It does not matter of one's
present house of flesh be the hut of a shepherd; by virtue of my
MAGICK
he shall be such a shepherd as David was. If it be the studio of
a sculptor, he shall so chisel from himself the marble that masks
his idea that he shall be no less a master than Rodin.
Witness mine hand:
To Mega Therion ([Hebrew] THRIVN): The Beast 666; MAGUS 9'=2'
A.'. A.'. who is The Word of the Aeon THELEMA; whose name is
called V.V.V.V.V. 8'=3' A.'. A.'. in the City of the Pyramids; OU
MH 7'=4' A.'. A.'.; OL SONUF VAORESAGI 6'=5', and ... ... 5'=6'
A.'. A.'. in the Mountain of Abiegnus: but FRATER PERDURABO in
the Outer Order or the A.'. A.'. and in the World of men upon the
Earth, Aleister Crowley of Trinity College, Cambridge.